- Statistician Arun Gopalakrishnan chats with captain Aditya Tare and Chairman of Mumbai Selection committee Milind Rege after Mumbai’s successful Ranji trophy season.
- Tare and Rege spoke about how they formed the team and the reasons behind their success.
Hours after Shardul Thakur castled Saurashtra’s number eleven Hardik Rathod to give Mumbai their 41st Ranji Trophy title, The Quint’s Arun Gopalakrishnan caught up with the Mumbai captain Aditya Tare and Chairman of Mumbai Selection committee Milind Rege for a brief chat about Mumbai’s successful season. Here are the excerpts:
Winning the Ranji Trophy Final in three days. You must be extremely elated with the team’s performance?
Aditya Tare: Yes, absolutely. It is a great feeling to be winning the Ranji Trophy. We didn’t expect to win it in three days, so yes I’m very happy with the way the team played. I’m very proud of the way the team played, especially on the third day of the final; on the first two days, we did give Saurashtra a bit of a chance, but we really killed the game right from the first session of day three.
You’ve had a good run personally – a productive season with the bat and a record-breaking season with the gloves. Satisfied with what you’ve achieved this season?
Aditya Tare: I’m very happy with what I’ve done this season – but not satisfied. I’m very happy with the way things have gone for me. But it is important that as a team we won the Ranji Trophy. Personal records don’t matter to me much by themselves, but if that record helps Mumbai win trophies, then I’m really happy. I’m glad in both the seasons that I was part of the Mumbai Ranji Trophy winning side, I had broken the record for most dismissals by a wicketkeeper.
Milind Rege, as a selector, you must be extremely pleased of your team’s performance?
Milind Rege: Obviously, it has given me great satisfaction to pick these young boys because we knew each of them was a very talented player. But then, talent has to be transformed into performance, which is what this set of boys have done. We started the season with the premise that this will be the squad that will play throughout the season and we didn’t make too many changes through the season simply because my committee believed that these are the 15-16-17 guys who will bring glory back to Mumbai. We were not looking at the record of the players at that juncture, we were merely aiming at a solid team building process, which we have succeeded in.
Given Mumbai’s rich history in the Ranji Trophy, and with several of the seniors not available to your committee for selection, how much pressure did your committee face?
Milind Rege: I think we were lucky that we had a coach called Chandrakant Pandit, who is a tough taskmaster, but whose priorities were absolutely perfect. Along with him, Aditya [Tare] and my colleagues in the selection committee, we formed a solid nucleus. There was pressure on the selection committee because Mumbai wasn’t too convincing in the last couple of seasons. This time we had identified which players we would pick for the Ranji Trophy as early as August, and by the time the team started the Ranji Trophy campaign, we were convinced about the 15 or 16 players who’d play through the season. Credit to the boys, for they’ve gone through the process of playing for the team and that has yielded very good results.
Two Ranji Trophy titles in your kitty – one of them as captain, and you’re only 28. What does the future hold for Aditya Tare?
Aditya Tare: Every time I slip into the Mumbai shirt, I want to win matches and trophies for the team. Winning the Ranji Trophy is a dream come true and to be able to do it twice so far is a great achievement so far in my career. But I have a long way to go, as a captain and as a player. I still have enough years in me to be able to play at the highest level and my dream is to play for India. I am going to pursue my dream, and I am going to work hard and work smart towards achieving that dream.
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